10 day River Trip

[Ron Jesche CH21' Sealion']

At the end if April we headed off for our 10 day trip on the Murray River. I left the mast at home and set up a bimini over the cockpit. Leaving the mast behind turned out to be a good decision as the river has a lot of twists and turns, sandbars, and sometimes quite a narrow channel. Running aground was a regular occurrence but at slow speeds not a big deal as it is usually sand. We launched the boat at Morgan about 170 km from home and spent 5 days travelling 252km upstream to Renmark and then the same downstream back to Morgan. We motored a total of 63 hours averaging around 9km per hour using 70 litres of diesel. We had to negotiate 5 locks each way which could sometimes take nearly an hour from we rang the lock keeper to when we exited the lock. We spent 2 nights tied up to town wharves and the other nights peacefully tied alongside the river after seeing maybe only one or two other boats all day.The lock keepers spend a lot of time drinking tea and eating biscuits at this time of year! I have not spent much time on the river previously and we were stunned by the beauty, wildlife and magnificent stars at night Our 2 dogs came along with us and we all settled into river life quickly. Sealion made a great home 10 days, and shows what a versatile boat the Cape Henry 21 is. Before we left home Carole prepared and froze soups and stews for 6 nights. Half were kept cold in the drawer fridge, and the rest in a cooler. After eating ashore for a few nights we still had frozen meals in the fridge after 7 days. The Murray River has around 2000km to explore so we will be making it a destination every few years. The Cape Henry is big enough to be comfortable for a trip like this but also small enough to make it feel like a real adventure, I'll add the photos over a  few posts, as only a couple can be done at once. Ron